Compact Travel Chess Sets

There doesn't seem to be many options for a decent quality compact travel chess set.  This 8" by 8" one seems decent, it's highly magnetic and you can put the cover over it to save positions.  But where would you put the removed pieces?  I guess you could put them on the side but meh.  I also heard the paint finish on the black squares is removed quite easily because there is no padding under the magnets on the pieces.

I had an idea.  Let's look at this model below and improve it.

With this 5" by 5" magnetic set, you can also save in progress games but you still need a place for the removed pieces.  Imagine though for a moment that the top side of this set, the part with the felt had it's depth doubled  and was magnetic so the pieces on top wouldn't hit the pieces on the board.  You could stick the pieces on the top

and then imagine the hinge that allows it to close is also made such that the top side swings all the way back onto itself, acting as a sort of little stand.  You could hide the pieces conveniently, save games in progress, and when you were done, just swing the hinge around to close it and you're set!  It would be perfect. 

Ofcourse we could just use our iphones and such, but that's not as fun.  I still want a decent travel set.

Learn to play blindfold, no set required 

I guess none of us should ever buy a chess board ever again then?  We could just "learn to play blindfold"

I have that Drueke set and the paint has come off a little, but it is a good (if slightly bulky) travel set. For real portability, I prefer this, http://www.ukgamesshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=chtra404&Category_Code=chtr. It is not especially elegant, but is small and practicable enough to be used on a cramped London bus. You can just about place removed places on the edge of the board or in an envelope at the bottom of the board.

Look at ChessMate Pocket and Travel Chess Sets (http://www.chessmate.com/chessmate1.html). Really elegant and high quality sets including great customer support!!

I'll second the ChessMate sets.  I've had my "Original ChessMate Pocket" set for about 14 years and it's a very nice travel/study set.  Well made, seems like they'll last forever (mine certainly has) and the customer support is great.  It's not really made for playing another person though, since the pieces would appear upside down to one or both players, so keep that in mind with any of the flat/disc sets.

Can you show me any conventional "hinge" that can do this on a case with any thickness without breaking apart or coming off the case?

I have bought a few decent portable chess sets at Baker Street, London for about 5GBP.

This one is barely a travel set--in fact I call it my Cafe Set, as it has a small footprint yet is very capable of sustaining a long session without becoming too small or bothersome to the eyes. It's great once you get to where you're playing but it's not light and it doesn't pack real small like a true travel set?

The disk pieces I designed and fabricated (inked suede leather on onyx and rose quartz disks) while the other is the nifty Dreuke Analysis set, rightly proportioned for the 1.5" squares.

The board is dyed leather with a teak frame.

Jaques made some superb travel sets and if you're willing to part with some bucks you can still snag one of their antique In Statu Quo boards at auction.

The boards are satinwood, rosewood, and mahogany, the pieces usually of bone though a special order could be made and a separate set of ivory men could be had.

There was a metal plate under the board that could be slid into place so that it could be folded, pieces in place, and unfolded later to resume analysis or play.

Even Alekhine loved his Jaques folder to death:

This is a very attractive travelling set, from France. An antique like the Jaques and I've only seen pics of this one example.

I like the pieces better than the Jaques, even. It also had a mechanism to preserve the position and fold it up.

This is an old, little folding Dreuke magnetic board that I coupled with some small vinyl disk pieces that I glued magnets to. The pieces are pretty easy to move around since they "stand off" and can be tipped up and the edges grabbed. If you have sausage fingers this may be aggravating to use though. Signature Dreuke walnut frame.

A pretty small and convenient package. Very diagrammy.

A small Dreuke peg set, with a walnut board. Once inside the case the pieces will not come out of their places.

A 50 year old Dreuke peg set, large. The squares are 1" and the pieces are made from the plastic Dreuke was using before they moved over to the high impact plastic of the Players' Choice sets.

Excellent proportions with an easy contrast board. Good for play or analysis. I tinted the tops of the bishops because they resemble the pawns too much.

This set is very compact to pack up yet easy to play a game on or analyze with due to its good size, colors, and non-disk pieces.

The squares are just less than 1" each (much larger than what I see in the small folding travel sets nowadays), and I mated some Dreuke magnetic pieces to it. They fit well together. (The flat magnetic pieces are also good but have to be peeled off when they can't be slid--but they can hold the position when packed up.)

If I were to be backpacking for a few months this is the one I'd carry.

 Agree ! When I saw this I thought to myself.....nice but...wait .....wth....... not possible.

This is my favorite little travel chess set.  The magnets are strong enough so that when closed the pieces dont shift unless you reall give it a good shake.  Also the captured pieces are stored on either end of the board which great for a game in progress.  It measures 6" x 8".

I have tried several pegged sets but a few pieces always seem to come loose when closed and put in my pocket or bag.  Plus, at least on the pegged sets I own, the pawns are the same size, if not bigger, than the other pieces.  That kind of bugs me.

Laser

Yeah that's similar to the one I want.  Is the sides where you put the out of play pieces magnetized too, so you can save in progress games?

 Yes, the entire area is magentized.  It really is a nice set.